Early in 1856 the county seat was moved to Eureka from Arcata and business revived very much the spring thereafter. Ever since that date its course has been steadily onward, until now [1915] it is a city approximating fifteen thousand population, with excellent chances ahead of it. The town was incorporated on April 18, 1856, and the first election of officers resulted in a satisfactory manner as follows : Trustees, James T. Ryan, C. F. Ricks, A. F. Rollins, J. M. Eddy, and George Graham. C. F. Ricks was president of the board, and J. M. Eddy was secretary. Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit I just grabbed this illustration out of Elliott’s book because it showed some early Arcata structures but I looked up Mr. Burns in the 1880 census (Ancestry.com). He appears to have done very well as a “tinman” who immigrated from England…

In the summer of 1905, the Tallant-Grant Co. of Astoria, Oregon established a cold storage plant at Port Kenyon on the Salt River and with the commencement of the salmon season in October, purchased the fishermen’s catches for two cents a pound. During two months of fishing and at various times, daily receipts of nine, ten, and twelve tons were recorded (Ferndale Enterprise, 1 Aug. 1905; 17 Oct. 1905; 27 Oct. 1905; 5 Dec. 1905). Because Eel River salmon were no longer of the size or grade most desirable for cold storage purposes and in order to handle this surplus, the Company explored the feasibility of developing a cannery at Port Kenyon (Ferndale Enterprise 2 Oct. 1906). An inquiry was made to the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce about the employment of Chinese labor, without which, the Company claimed such a plant could not be successful. The Chamber responded that there would be no objection as long as certain conditions were met,including 1) the Chinese would work only at the cannery, 2) stay no longer than the period of operations, and 3) they would not be permitted at any time to leave the vicinity of the cannery (Ferndale Enterprise 22 June 1906). The Tallant-Grant Company built a 110×50 addition to the Port Kenyon Cold Storage Company building for the cannery, which began operations during the 1906 season. The investors felt that such a facility would be economically viable by utilizing the smaller salmon caught by the local fishermen and easily exported via the Salt River (Ferndale Enterprise 4 Sept. 1906; 9 Oct. 1906).Read the rest of this entry »

Winship School replaced the old Grant School and was opened in 1890 with 500 elementary grade children. In 1896, it became the first high school in Humboldt Co. It became an intermediate school for 7 and 8 grades in 1914 and was closed in 1926. The old Winship was then demolished and the Eureka Municipal Auditorium was built at the location. (Please note, though, that other folks are saying that the Muni actually incorporated some of the original school building)